Syrian refugees near four million amid intense fighting

The UN refugee agency says it has now registered almost four million Syrian refugees spread across the region, with the highest number located in Turkey.

With the conflict in Syria now in its fifth year, 7.6 million people have been internally displaced, 3.98 million people have fled the country and thousands more are waiting to be registered as refugees, UNHCR says.

More than half of all Syrian refugees are under the age of 18.

Activists say the number of refugees fleeing into neighbouring countries has increased as the fighting in Syria intensified over the past few months, particularly after the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) group captured Syria's historic Palmyra city last month and advanced on the northeastern province of Hasakah.

The UN predicts that by the end of 2015, up to 4.27 millions refugees could be registered - making it the largest exodus of a country's citizens since the Rwandan genocide 20 years ago.